Every day I experience life in the world of healthcare IT, supporting 3000 doctors, 18000 faculty, and 3 million patients. In this blog I record my experiences with infrastructure, applications, policies, management, and governance as well as muse on such topics such as reducing our carbon footprint, standardizing data in healthcare, and living life to its fullest.

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Building Unity Farm Sanctuary - Fourth Week of March 2017

It’s officially Spring and although the weather is cold and snowy, the anticipation of warmer weather means that Unity Farm Sanctuary is more active than ever.

This week, a local young woman purchased our goose eggs and made traditional Ukrainian Pysanky Easter eggs. We were impressed.

The owners of Penny Blossom, the Yorkshire pig living at the sanctuary for a year, brought us empty wire cable spools. The goats are jumping from spool to spool, having a great time.

This week, we finished creating the last bedroom at the Sanctuary using a 1760’s bed we found in Plymouth. It was not designed to use a mattress and has spools for ropes to hold straw. Each night you tighten your ropes so you “sleep tight”. That’s actually where the term comes from. Sanctuary guests would likely have trouble maintaining the ropes and straw, so I created a bed frame.

The most important development this week is that we finished clearing the land between the farm and sanctuary in preparation of new animal paddocks for rescue operations. Here’s a view of the freshly cleared land with a herd of deer running across it. In April we’ll install 1700 feet of fencing to create 4 paddocks, each with its own 24 foot mini-barn. We’ve been collecting pottery for a charity sale in the Spring. My daughter joking refers to this area of the property as the “pot farm”.

On the south side of the sanctuary, there are 27 acres of rural land trust open space. We’re creating trails that connect the open space with our land, eventually resulting in 5 miles of walkable trails over the combined land. We hope to expand our bee hives to the meadow in the open space.

I’ve designed paths that follow the natural topography of the land and while exploring the property, I found long abandoned bee hives. My wife asked me to remove them to avoid any potential spread of spores from old American foul brood, but irst I have to talk to the mouse who is renting the old hive!

Over the next few years, we’ll reintegrate the Sherborn land that was originally laid out in the Revolutionary war. If we’re lucky, the assembly of land we own, land trust, wetlands, and farm designated land will result in 200 acres of contiguous agricultural land for the public.

This weekend, we’ll finish the the repair of the sanctuary building, fixing all the windows and screens in the original 1830's building and the newer construction areas. I’ve purchased enough spare parts to restore 50 windows/screens to their original condition. I suspect that by the end of the weekend my hands will be a bit strained!